IDNO

P.71498.GIJ

Description

Two bottles carved out of hard wood in shape of local clay ones. They are hollow and will hold liquids! The technique is to cut a piece out of the side to enable one to hollow the interior and then replace it. The bottle on the left is comprised of a handle with wooden supports around the base. The neck of the bottle is plain with coiled rings and the body of the bottle is incised with geometric relief decorations, cross-hatching patterns, zigzag designs, striations and with lettering, “OFUNWA”. The bottle on the right consists of a handle, the neck of the bottle is plain with coiled rings and the body of the bottle is incised with geometric relief decorations, zigzags, striations, lines and cross-hatching. In the background is a brick wall.

Place

W Africa; Nigeria; South Eastern Nigeria; Onitsha province; Nri Awka; Amobia village

Cultural Affliation

Igbo [historically Ibo]; Nri Akwa

Named Person

Photographer

Jones, Gwilliam Iwan (known as G.I.)

Collector / Expedition

Date

circa 1930 - 1939

Collection Name

Jones collection

Source

Jones, Gwilliam Iwan (known as G.I.)

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.71498.GIJ was presumed to have come from box 5, now numbered C302/.

Publication: Same photograph is found in Jones, 1989, Plate 22, p. 28. The caption reads, “Wooden bottles, Akwa town, Nri-Akwa Ibo. Carved in the form of earthenware palm wine jars.” Similar designs can be found on ceramic pots, see Cole and Aniakor, 1984, pp. 78-79. In reference to carved panels, geometric designs predominate regardless of region, and rectangular panels are commonly subdivided, often by large circular, oval, or triangular motifs which are partly or wholly filled-in with close parallel lines or cross hatching (p.71).

Publication: Same image published on John McCall’s G.I. Jones website with the following information: [Source: www.siu.edu/~anthro/mccall/jones/, AF ]
1. Index to Igbo music, shrines, architecture and other cultural artifacts
2. Other Igbo cultural items
3. Bottles carved out of wood (19th image).

Context: Jones writes that, “to prove their expertise, the Ibo also occasionally carved wooden bottles in imitation of local earthenware ones “ (as depicted in this photograph) . Jones, 1989, p.28. The symbolism of geometric motifs found in Ibo carvings, especially in relation to panels, is discussed in detail in Cole and Aniakor, 1984, p.71.

Bibliographical Reference: Jones, G.I. 1989. Ibo Art (Shire);
Cole, H. & C. Aniakor, 1984. Igbo Arts: Community and Cosmos (Museum of Cultural History, University of California)

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Alicia Fentiman 27/11/2007]